cover image Eve's Rib: Searching for the Biological Roots of Sex Differences

Eve's Rib: Searching for the Biological Roots of Sex Differences

Robert Pool. Crown Publishers, $22 (308pp) ISBN 978-0-517-59298-4

Few would dispute that behavioral differences distinguish the sexes; the question remains whether nature or nurture causes the differences. Are women more ``nurturing'' than men because of their hormones, or are they responding to what they have been taught? Is aggression in men due mainly to testosterone? Pool takes pains to emphasize that the ``differences do not imply that one sex or the other is superior--instead the scientists see men and women as inherently equal.'' This book--Pool's first--explores the subject by seeking out the scientists--most of whom are women--now doing the research. He refutes the idea that either nature or nurture is solely responsible: ``None of the sex differences is completely fixed by biology . . . the most it can do is establish predispositions that interact with the environment to create a person. . . . Hormones may push males and females in different directions, but society can either exaggerate or dampen these differences, depending on how we teach our children and what we expect of ourselves.'' Pool's foray into the complex scientific world of sex differences is not a dry treatise. His book is an entertaining narration of current research into the mental, emotional and psychological differences between men and women. It may not end verbal sparring between the sexes, but it will provide each side with some intriguing ammunition. (Apr.)